Air Force sending advanced fighters to Europe

WASHINGTON: The Air Force plans to send its most sophisticated warplane, the F-22 Raptor fighter, to Europe as a potential deterrent to Russian aggression, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Monday. The Air Force will not say when the jets will arrive in Europe, but their deployment comes days after Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged that Russia posed “an existential threat” to the United States because of its nuclear weapons arsenal. Since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last year, and built up its forces on its western border with U.S. allies, the Pentagon has mounted a series of air, sea and land exercises in the region.